There are no contemporary documents that confirm his birth or marriage or children or immigration. And the unrealistic 1810 death date assigned to him almost certainly belongs to Christian 1734. There is a 1736 will for another Christian who died a month after arriving in Philadelphia, but no will for Christian 1703. The name "Christian Erb" does show up as owner of 60 acres in the Warwick Twp. tax roll of 1759, but Christian 1734 is a much more likely candidate. Before 1737 (when Nicholas Erb and his family arrived on "The Charming Nancy") there is no trace of a Christian Erb in Pennsylvania. Probably because there was none.

Even if Christian 1703 did exist, while he might have been a relative of Nicholas Claus, he could not have been his son or the father of the Christian Erb who married Mary Shirk or the father of the Peter Erb who married Anna Schaffer -- three very frequent misidentifications.

The Peter who married Anna Schaffer, was Peter 1759 -- the son of John (Hans) Erb 1713 and grandson of Nicholas Claus 1680. The Christian who married Mary Shirk was Christian 1734 -- the youngest son of Nicholas Claus Erb. (Note that three different Christian Erbs have been confused here: Christian the purported husband of Maria Wenger, Christian the son of Nicholas, and Christian the purported son of Christian 1703.)

What we have here is a mysterious individual cobbled together from limited and unreliable information. His birthdate is an estimate and his place of birth unknown. He came to Pennsylvania on an unknown ship before the ship lists that could confirm it were required. His wife Maria Wenger has no known ancestors -- even though the Wenger family has been heavily researched. His marriage date is later than the birthdates of two of his sons. Two of his sons clearly belong to other families and next to nothing is known about the other two. Finally, his 1810 death date -- which just happens to coincide with the death date of his alleged son of the same name -- would make him an improbable 107 years old.

This misidentification of Christian 1703 and his sons, already present in most ERB family trees, is only going to get much more widely disseminated in the near future. The world's largest genealogical database, the archives of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Church, is now online as LDS Family Search and its voluntarily-submitted Ancestral Files that include Christian 1703 have all the mistakes described above. Inevitably this misinformation will be widely copied, and recopied and the general impression reinforced that since everyone agrees, it must be true.

I urge anyone who now lists Christian 1703 among their ancestors to make their own decision about these matters, keeping in mind the difference between primary and secondary sources and between what is widely accepted and what is actually known.

One example of the general uncertainty surrounding this published information can be found in Eby's statement that the children of Nicholas Erb arrived in America with their parents in "1722, 1727 or 1737". Another in the following comment by a contemporary researcher who found a number of mistakes in Eby's treatment of the Bricker family:

"Let us remember that Ezra Eby the author of this fine Canadian history was using only notes of his grandfather Bishop Benjamin Eby whose mother was Catherine Bricker. I am confident Benjamin would have known who his mother's immediate ancestors were. But also it is easy to see how Ezra Eby could have made [these] mistakes using only notes of his deceased grandfather to compile the biography from." --Mildred Bricker, 12 July 1977 letter, "Bricker" file, Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society.

Bishop Benjamin Eby (1785-1853) had two wives: Nancy Brubacher (a granddaughter of Christian Erb 1734) and Magdalena Erb (a granddaughter of Jacob Erb 1724). But Erbs and Brickers, after all, were peripheral to his main focus, the history of the Eby family and there are similar mistakes in Eby's treatment of Erbs. (Many of these have been detailed and corrected in a recent book by Groff and Newman, "The Eby Report".)

Another example of the uncertainty of the published information about Christian 1703 can be found in "The Wenger Book". Here Christian 1703's purported son John (1729-1783) and his wife Anna (identified only by her given name) are said to be the parents of Magdalena Erb (c1751-?), Benjamin Erb (c1753-1814), Barnabas DeWitt Erb (c1755-?), and Rachel Winston Erb (c1757-?).

But there is no existing evidence that any such John Erb ever existed. The John Erb whose will was probated in 1783 was Nicholas Erb's oldest son John who was born in 1713, died in 1778, and married Barbara Schrantz. He would have been Christian's brother, not his son. John and Barbara did have a daughter named Magdalena (1763-1836), but no children named Benjamin, Barnabas or Rachel.

In fact, the Benjamin Erb who died in 1814 was the only child of Canadian residents Abraham Erb (1772-1830) and his wife Magdalena Molly Erb (1780-1858). He was born in 1807 (not c1753) and died when he was 7. And it was Abraham and Molly who later adopted Barnabas DeWitt and Rachel Winston, who were born three generations later than the Wenger estimates! -- Barnabas in 1807, Rachel in 1827.

Keeping in mind that Erbs were only a sideline in a book about Wengers, if "The Wenger Book" was so totally confused about the children and grandchildren of Christian 1703, what reason is there to believe that it was any less confused about the purported Christian himself.

I have listed below brief descriptions of how a number of contemporary researchers have handled this question. My own conclusions can be found in the last item of this list.

Armstrong [from Lichtenwalter and Eby]
Answer: Father = Christian.
On her Erb Family site Deborah Armstrong has Christian, born 1703 in Germany, as the father of Christian 1734. In her notes she includes stories, taken from the books cited above, which are fascinating to read, but lacking in proof. Go to Armstrong's gedcom files. [Caution: Although this site was a valued early source for the Erb / Larkins database, it hasn't been updated in more than a year, has only partial coverage of the Erb family, and contains a number of errors.]

Hewitt [from Lichtenwalter, Eby, and Steinmetz]
Answer: Father = Christian.
Betty Hewitt's extensive offline Erb database [to which this site is also greatly indebted] has Christian 1703 as the son of Nicholas Claus and the father of Christian 1734. She gives the younger Christian's wife as "Maria Scherch" and lists all their 12 children. She has John 1729, Peter 1736, and Jacob (no birth date) as the other children of Christian 1703, whose death date she gives as 1810.

Gingerich-Kreider [from Lichtenwalter, Eby, and Wenger]
Answer: Father = Christian.
The Gingerich-Kreider book was well aware of the uncertainties surrounding Christian 1703, as the following note demonstrates. [The material in brackets has been added by me.]

"...Erb [the Lichtenwalter book] cannot be right when it states that Christian Erb, Sr., born about 1703, married to Maria Wenger (and the father of Christian Erb, Jr. born 10/ /1734 married to Maria Scherck) was the son of ERA [Nicholas Erb 1680]. There are at least two reasonable explanations, and as of this date there seems to be no way of telling which is right: (1) that Christian Erb Sr. was not a descendant of ERA but was a brother, cousin, or no relation of ERA, or (2) that there was no Christian Erb Sr., and the one who appears to have been Christian Erb Jr. was ERA5 [Nicholas's son Christian 1734]." --Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies, p.66.

Despite this admirable cautionary note, however, Gingerich and Krider went ahead and listed Christian Erb 1734 as the son of Christian Erb 1703 in the main body of their text. And many private genealogies have copied this without incorporating the note. Their book gives no information about Christian 1703's parents, or his birth date, death date, or marriage date. His children are given as: John 1729, Christian 1734, Peter 1736, and Jacob (no birth date). Christian's wife is given as "Mary Scherck". Because the Christian 1703 line ["ERB" in their system] is treated as separate from the Nicholas 1680 line ["ERA" in their system], all the descendants of Christian 1703's purported sons Christian 1734 and Peter 1736 are disconnected from their true progenitor, Nicholas.

[Individual data from the Gingerich-Kreider material can be found in Roger Geiser's gedcom files indexed on GENDEX.]

Hostetler [from Gingerich-Kreider]
Answer: Father = Christian.
Hostetler has Christian Erb 1734 as one of four sons of Christian Erb 1703 and Maria Wenger. His wife is given as "Mary Scherck". [The Hostetler files are also indexed on GENDEX.]

LDS Ancestral Files [from ?]
Answer: Father = Christian.
The LDS Ancestral Files are based on voluntary submissions and are unsourced. They have Christian 1734 as the son of Christian 1703 and married to Maria Scherch. The father's given name is misspelled as "Christain". Go to the LDS Family Search site. (You will also find IGI files there for Christian's birth and marriage. But they too are private submissions -- not extractions from primary records. The alleged marriage date is "1725", which better fits the birth dates of the children than The Wenger Book's 1737. The wife's name is spelled "Winger". )

Connell [from ?]
Answer: Father = unknown.
Amy Connell's Shirk website gives no father for Christian 1734, but lists him as "Christian Jr.", which clearly excludes Nicholas and implies Christian 1703. She gives Christian 1734 a marriage date of 1736 (instead of 1725 or 1737) and his wife's name as "Mary Scherck". Go to the Connell site.

The Wenger Project [from Lichtenwalter and The Wenger Book]
Old Answer: Father = Christian
New Answer: Father = Nicholas.
Until recently, The Wenger Genealogy Project (formerly the Welcome Wenger Home Page) has had Christian 1703 listed as the father of Christian 1734. But I have been informed by Daniel Lee Wenger that in the next update of his web site, he will, instead, be listing Nicholas as Christian's father -- in conformity with the arguments put forth in this essay. The description that follows relates to the old answer, which is now obsolete.

The elder Christian's birthdate is listed as 1703 with a reference to "Warwick Twp. Lancaster Co. PA." The source given was The Wenger Book, which has his date of death as 1810. Christian 1703 is listed as the eldest son of Nicholas Erb 1679-1740, with two brothers, John 1713, and Jacob 1724. Nicholas Claus Jr. is not included. Nor are Claus Senior's three daughters: Anna 1716, Magdalena 1718, and Catharina 1731.

Although some sources list two, three, or four children for Christian 1703, The Wenger Book gives only one--Christian 1734, with a birth date of Oct 1734 and a death date of 7 Jul 1810.

Christian is said to have married Maria Wenger "about 1737". The source given in Maria's data is " 'Erb Family History', Gladys Lichtenwalter, Adamstown, PA 1961. p. 373." This would be three years after the birth of their alleged son Christian in 1734 and eight years after the birth of their alleged son John in 1729. There is no other information about Maria except her birthdate -- 1705. Go to the Wenger Project site. (When you get there, scroll to the bottom of the page and type "Erb" into the search box. When the next page comes up, click on the "Page Down" tile.)

Hannah Erb's 1910 Chart [from ?]
Answer: Father = Nicholas.
This family tree chart is comprehensive as to names but has few spouses and no birth dates. At least part of it was the work of an unknown professional genealogist -- but his sources are unknown. It shows the children of "Nichaulus" Erb ("came to America in 1722") as John, Christian, Peter, and Jacob. The children listed for Christian are the 12 widely-known children of Christian 1734 -- who was indeed the son of a Nicholas Erb, but one who came to America in 1737, not 1722. This chart predates any of the books mentioned above, except for the one by Ezra Eby.

Christian 1734 did have brothers named John and Jacob, but he also had a brother named Nicholas and several sisters who are not shown on the chart. More importantly, he did not have the brother named Peter who is shown on the chart. The four children assigned to Nichaulus appear to be the result of a mixup with the John, Christian, Peter, and Jacob said by a number of sources to be the children of Christian 1703.

Davis [from the original Swiss parish birth records]
Answer: Father = Nicholas.
Richard Warren Davis's 1995 book Emigrants, Refugees and Prisoners has Christian Erb 1734 as the son of Nicholas Claus Erb 1680 and Catharina unknown. The information about Christian 1734's birth, death, and marriage are unchanged from the usual and all his children are listed. Christian's wife is given as "Mary Schirk". [The Davis material can be found in Roger Geiser's gedcom files indexed on GENDEX.]

CAUTION: The gedcom file for Christian Erb 1734 lists his birthplace as "Lancaster Co.". This is apparently a transcription error, since it does not occur in the Davis book it was copied from.

Larkins [from Davis, the 1737 shiplist, and the 1769 will]
Answer: Father = Nicholas.
I agree with Davis that Christian 1734 was the son of Nicholas Claus Erb 1680, and not the son of Christian Erb 1703. The younger Christian must have been born somewhere in Europe. Exactly where depends on where Nicholas Claus's family was in 1734 -- just three years before they all immigrated to America.

They may have come directly from the Emmental valley of Canton Bern, Switzerland (via the Rhine River to Rotterdam). Or they may have left Switzerland and lived in the German Palatinate (probably Baden) for 10 to 20 years before they went on to Rotterdam and Pennsylvania in 1737. Many Swiss Mennonite families followed this pattern in the early 1700s, and several sources give "Wester Walter Hof" as the place that Nicholas Erb came from.

I believe that a three-year-old Christian 1734 was the "Christian Erbe" on the women and children's passenger list of the ship "Charming Nancy" when it arrived in Philadelphia on October 8, 1737 with all of Nicholas Claus Erb's family on board. With one exception, all of Nicholas's children that are listed on the Swiss birth records are also listed on the "Charming Nancy" passenger list. Each list confirms the other -- not only as to their names but as to their relative ages. When Nicholas Claus came to America, he brought his entire family with him.

Go here to read the shiplist of the "Charming Nancy" for yourself. [Look for Hans Erbe, Glaus Erbe, and Glaus Erbe Jr. on the adult male list. Look for Jacob Erbe, Christian Erbe, Christophel Erbe and all the female Erbes on the women and children's list. The names will be in bold face.]

The exception noted above is that the ship list has a "Christofel" who is not on the birth list and the birth list has a "Magdalena" who is not on the ship list. Go here to read about Christophel.

The 1737 ship list data about Christian 1734 is supported by a mini-biography from about 1835 entitled "Rev. Jacob Erb, Tenth Bishop of the United Bretheren in Christ", which includes the following sentences:

"His grandfather, Christian Erb, was born in Switzerland in A.D. 1736, and when only three years of age was brought to this country. His father was also named Christian, and was born in Lancaster County, in A.D. 1758."  

I also believe (along with Gingerich-Kreider) that Christian 1734 was the "youngest brother" mentioned in the 1769 will of Nicholas Claus Erb Junior. Claus Jr.'s other two brothers -- also mentioned in the will -- were John (Hans) Erb 1713, and Jacob Erb 1724. Had Christian 1703 been Claus Sr.'s son, he would have to have been Claus Jr.'s oldest brother. Go here to read the will for yourself.

The single most important thing to keep in mind when weighing the various assertions about the father of Christian Erb 1734 is that the primary source materials (the Swiss birth records, the 1737 ship list, and the 1769 will) all agree. The discrepancys all come from secondary and tertiary sources -- books that were written more than two centuries after the events they describe -- plus the more recent internet genealogies and LDS files that have copied from these books and from each other.